Jets forward Evander Kane says he thought traffic fines had been paid

WINNIPEG - The Winnipeg Jets and Evander Kane say a pair of unpaid traffic fines that led the province of Manitoba to move to garnishee his salary have been dealt with and it's time to move on.

"It's a matter that has been taken of," Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said Thursday, as the team opened it's 2013 prospects camp.

"Everybody has a personal life."

Kane suggested it was a misunderstanding.

"It's just something that I guess I thought I had taken care of before," he said of fines for using an electronic device and driving without a valid license.

"It came a little bit by surprise but it's rectified and taken care of now."

The province won a default judgment last week for $650 to cover the cost of the fines and penalties, the Winnipeg Free Press reported Thursday. Kane will earn a base salary of $4.5 million in 2013-14.

The fines were paid when the team learned of them last week.

"It's something that has been dealt with and certainly we're ready to move forward," said Cheveldayoff.

He didn't make a big deal of it but suggested it was Kane's responsibility to handle such things.

"As citizens of the community we all have a responsibility to make sure that we take care of the different things."

Kane said he doesn't remember what he was doing when he was stopped for using an electronic device while driving.

"Obviously it's very dangerous and I don't recommend it to anybody," he said.

This isn't the first time Kane has been the subject of headlines for his off-ice activities.

A photo on twitter of him holding a pile of cash as though it were a cellphone during the NHL lockout also elicited public criticism.

"It's obviously something that you don't want to be dealing with consistently but you play in a Canadian market, people are going to look to find anything to talk about or write about and next thing you know it's front page news," Kane said.